A hand-picked 5 man team journeyed through Patagonia while producing a short cinematic narrative during the experience. Safely navigating mountains, jungles, fjords, and ridges high above glaciers balanced with the logistics of transporting gear and people through over 13 border crossings made this a unique undertaking. The cinematic narrative that was created and the production story behind it captures the energy, rhythm, and humbling power of the Patagonica dream.

The Essence of 'Patagonica'

In signature fashion, Dapp began editing between filming, hiking, driving or cooking shifts on the famed rugged Carretera Austral Ruta 7 of Patagonia, ensuring that the film was infused with the spirit of the experience. The Patagonica name, inclusive of ‘c' suggests that Patagonia is more than a geographic location – an epic world and unique spirit of it’s own. The crew covered the equivalent distance as from San Diego, California to Alaska’s Aluetian Islands. In that same month, more than half the days were spent far from any vehicle or road, remote with camera and wilderness gear weighing down the team packs. Through snow, sun, hale and hurricane force winds, the crew covered over 500km by foot only taking brief showers in the rivers they came across. Yerba mate was the staple energy source to keep the team pushing.

Building on previous longer cinematic journeys, Dapp joined forces with Dan Barron, HB Live and a family of sponsors across film making and adventure industries to create the best experience possible. The collaborative nature of the project allowed the idea to become a successful project the team was motivated to bring to reality. After months of pre-production planning, the team had to convert back to the wild man mind state and integrate into the raw and diverse landscape of Patagonica to execute on the vision.

Making it Happen

Check out our instagram account for a larger gallery of behind the scenes and landscape photography, along with details of our production story.

State of the art / lightweight / durable / simple

Just as every member of the team occupies several roles, almost every piece of equipment we brought had to fill multiple purposes. A tripod serves as a jib and inverted stabilizer. Our Whistler pack insert pulled out for the bigger packs. Our dish/laundry/bath soap was one in the same and concentrated.

We shot on the newest Sony A7SII mirrorless cameras with internal 4K and HD at high framerates. We also used a mechanically operated Cinevate Duzi with Modo Timelapse system and Feather Lite Pro Cranes carbon fiber jibs. Our Adventure Kit from Lens Pro to Go kept us charged and moving like guerrilla cinematographers when we needed to get down to our core storytelling tools.

Building on our Expedition and Production Experience

After traveling and producing in many remote locations across the world, our team knew that in most cases less is more. Moving efficiently, safely and reliably, are key to a successful production. Choosing the right kit allows you to be free to take on the experience at a genuine pace without being creatively and physically bogged down by an overload of gear.

Kit

- Goal Zero Sherpa

- Defy G2X Gimbal

- Two Sony A7SII

- Canon 5D Mark III

- Cinevate Duzi and Modo slider and Timelapse

- Lite Pro Gear

- Canon L Lenses

- Lowepro

The Route

26 days into 3 minutes

In 26 days, the team travelled over 6000km on the infamous back roads of Chile and Argentina including large portions of the Carratera Austral Ruta 7, and Ruta 40.

Through snow, sun, and hurricane force winds the mongrels trekked over 500km leaving behind any roads.

Upon completing the final 9 day trek, the team drove non-stop from southern most tip of their route back North to Santiago -

completing over 13 border crossings and navigating many mountain passes.

The driving force behind Patagonica, Joe is as known for unique camera work as he is for willing his passion projects into existence. Patagonica was an adventurous creative journey of a lifetime supported by his favorite collaborators and companies. Two years ago, Joe left his career in aerospace to pursue his passion for production. His skills in engineering complemented a logistically complicated mission and enabled him to make the project happen the way he envisioned.

As far back as high school, Dapp, Dan, and Matt were collaborating on branding concepts, video production, and photography. The approach to connecting with brands and producing fresh media caught on with Dan since day one and much of the vision for the project came to be through countless late discussions by campfire between Dan, Matt, and Dapp. Along with brand development at HB, Dan keeps his hands in a variety of projects across industries and spends his winters in CT praying for snowboarding weather that never comes. His eye for marketing, branding, production and design provided a solid foundation to partner with Dapp on the execution of Patagonia.

A Rhode Island native, growing up surfing, windsurfing and sailing meant walking to the end of his parents farm. Now a resident of Jackson Hole, his background in long distance competitive sailing, expeditions, and work as environmental engineer made him a perfect fit for Patagonica. Dapp met Andrew in New Zealand 6 years ago when he was choosing dreads and the surf over a mountain mullet. Andrew was right there with Austin and Dapp, stubbies and all, hiking routes called 'avalanche peak'.

First meeting in New Zealand in 2010, Austin and Dapp became friends rock climbing and trekking across the country. They are notoriously known for mountain mullets and stubbies. Many mountain expeditions Dapp's senior, Austin is an alpinist with 5 first ascents in Kyrgyzstan who currently works as a mechanical engineer in New Hampshire. His ability to rise long before the sun and make coffee is inhuman.

photographer, as well as an organic farmer, Matt has been shooting alongside Dapp for over 13 years. His creativity and composure while in extremely challenging environments brought Matt alive in Patagonia and it shows in the piece. You can find Matt on the road, on the mountain or in the garden, but always with Shasta, his pup.

A college friend of Dapp's and bearded brethren, Mike is a geologist and the former Guided Programs Coordinator and Lead Guide at Mount St Helens Institute. His mountain experience, and desire to explore and explain the many rock formations and diverse ecosystems drew him to Patagonica. He now travels the mountains of the mid west in Gertrude, his tiny home van.

Role: Cook // Gear Management // Logistics

Need a production team? Licensing inquiry?

Get in touch

Interested in working with Dapp and HB Live on a production of your own? Reach out and we would love to hear more about your project.